Meet The Team

Meet The Team

I am Professor of Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology at the University of Manchester and honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust. My research interests are in cognitive theory, cognitive therapy and emotional disorders. I have developed Metacognitive Therapy, which aims to help allieviate conditions such as anxiety and depression, by helping people to develop alternative ways of experiencing negative thoughts. Metacognitive Therapy has recently been included in the NHS NICE guidelines for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and is fully explained in my book “Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression”. My role as Chief Investigator on the PATHWAY study allows me to continue my research into the evaluation of Metacognitive Therapy across various disorders.

Dr Peter Fisher - Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

I am a Senior Lecturer in Clinicial Psychology at the University of Liverpool. My main research interests are in the development and evaluation of cognitive and metacognitive therapy for depression and anxiety disorders in adult mental health and physical health populations. I have recently been involved in research which has shown that Metacognitive Therapy is effective in the treatments of anxiety, depression, and stress related symptoms in young adults affected by cancer. I also use Metacognitive Therapy in my work with clients and supervise other Clinical Psychologists who do so.

Professor Peter Salmon - Professor of Clinical Psychology

I am a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool and honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Hospitals NHS Trust. My research centres on how clinical communication can meet or thwart patients' needs. I have also studied doctor-patient interactions about medically unexplained symptoms and, most recently, communication about cancer care and long-term conditions. I am interested in what researchers and educators can learn from doctors and patients as well as what we can tell them.

Dr. David Reeves - Trial Statistician

I am lead statistician and quantitative senior researcher at the Centre for Primary Care. I am involved in the large majority of the Centre’s projects, usually playing a major role in research design, leading the analysis, and contributing to publications. I also run my own projects and contribute to the overall research strategy of the Centre. My current areas of research include use of Primary Care Databases in research, Quality of Care, Patient Self-Management and Meta-Analysis. I have a first class honours degree from Newcastle and a PhD from Manchester. I worked for Beecham’s Research Laboratories for one year, and Marconi Space and Defence for two years, before joining the University of Manchester. Up until 2000, I was statistician at the Hester Adrian Research Centre (HARC), in the School of Education. HARC was a Centre dedicated to research for people with learning disabilities, and whilst there I developed strong links with other units in Education, including Special Education and the Centre for Human Communication and Deafness, and developed a number of collaborative projects on services for deaf people.

Professor Linda Davies - Health Economist

I am part of the Health Economics Research at team in Manchester which is based in the Health Methodology Research Group (HMRG) and is a multi-disciplinary research group, including Biostatistics and Health Informatics within the School of Community Based Medicine. My key roles are design and implementation of economic evaluations in mental health and chronic disabilities, focussing on complex interventionsfor people with complex needs and measurement and valuation of preferences for health and social care. I am also a member of the HMRG management team.

Professor Tony Heagerty - Professor of Medicine

I am a Professor of Medicine and Associate Director in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences. Previously I was the Medical Director of the Manchester NIHR/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility from 2001-11. I have served as President of the British Hypertension Society, the European Society of Hypertension and the International Society of Hypertension. My research activity is looking at the effects of fat on arterial structure and function in obesity and diabetes. My roles and responsibilities on the PATHWAY Study involves collaborating with the main research team and providing specialist cardiac advice.

Professor Patrick Doherty

I am Chair of Cardiovascular Health in the Department of Health Sciences and Director of the National Audit for Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) at the University of York. I am Deputy Head of Department with lead responsibility for research across a range of multi disciplinary research groups. I was former Chair and a current member of the Training and Career Progression Committee with responsibility for monitoring equality of opportunity for all staff in respect of training and career progression including oversight of Concordat, Athena Swan and gender equality charter.

Dr Lora Capobianco - Programme Manager

I joined the PATHWAY team in December 2016. I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology at McMaster University in Canada. I recently completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Manchester. My PhD evaluated the role of metacognition in stress and recovery. I have developed a strong passion for research and evaluating how individuals recover from stressful events. In addition to working on PATHWAY I have also worked at the Christie Hospital in the Christie Patient Centered Research Team as well as been a teaching assistant at the University of Manchester.

Dr Cintia Faija - Senior Research Assistant

I joined the PATHWAY team in January 2016 as a Senior Research Assistant. I finished my undergraduate degree in Psychology in 2006 in Argentina (Buenos Aires). Over these years I gained experience as a clinical psychologist working with patients facing high levels of psychological distress. These experiences were pivotal to develop as a PhD researcher in mental health. I was awarded the School of Psychological Sciences PhD Studentship (University of Manchester, UK) and at the moment I am finishing the writing up of my thesis aimed to understand the role of pride in the onset and maintenance of eating disorders. As a researcher I have developed a strong knowledge in qualitative and quantitative methods. I am extremely pleased to be a member of this highly qualified team. I enjoy my fitness training and I love to spend time with family and friends.

Zara Husain - Research Assistant

I began my role as a Research Assistant as part of the PATHWAY team in June 2018.Prior to this, I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology. I then went on to complete my MSc in Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Birmingham in September 2017. During this time, I was involved in various research projects including my master’s thesis, whereby I investigated postural control in those with neurodegenerative diseases. I also had the opportunity to be a part of projects which utilised neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and tDCS.

Obtaining experience within a clinical research environment, has allowed myself to have a greater appreciation for when research is applied to healthcare practice. I am pleased to be a part of a project which aims to make a positive difference in the health and quality of life of heart disease patients by improving the effectiveness of psychological interventions for depression and anxiety.

Mr Avinash Atwal - Research Assistant

I joined the PATHWAY team in June 2017 as a Research Assistant. I completed my undergraduate degree in Chemistry in 2015. Since then, I have worked in various environments and have extensive experience within a Healthcare and research setting. Working in a research, helped me to recognize the importance of research and the great changes it can make. I am happy to be a part of this study which is designed to investigate the effectiveness of psychological interventions for depression and anxiety in the cardiac rehabilitation pathway for patients following cardiac events. I am extremely happy to be a part of this highly qualified team. I have interest in sports, fitness and enjoy doing these in my spare time

Calvin Heal - Biostats Research Assistant

I am a medical statistician at the Centre for Biostatistics. My background is in audiology. I recently completed my MSc in Statistics and have since been involved in a variety of projects at the University and Salford Royal. Together with David Reeves I will be working on the statistical analysis for the PATHWAY research project.

Gemma Shields- Health Economics Research Fellow

I am part of the Centre for Health Economics at the University of Manchester. My key roles are design and implementation of economic evaluations in mental health and chronic disabilities, focussing on complex interventions for people with complex needs. In addition to research projects I teach a module in health economics for the Master of Public Health programme. My roles and responsibilities on the PATHWAY Study involve the health economic components of the work; which include a trial economic evaluation, decision analytic model and stated preference surveys.

Lindsey Brown- Patient and Public Involvement Lead

I joined the PATHWAY team in September 2018 as a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Lead. I am interested in the impact that PPI has on both research and on those who take part, and am currently evaluating a programme of workshops that I delivered to help MSc students understand the value of PPI and develop the skills needed in this field. This included events to bring students and members of the public together to share experiences and research findings. Prior to discovering PPI I had a short career in marketing and over 10 years working at a 6th form college; organising events, mentoring, facilitating focus groups, and delivering lessons. I also work as a presenter, delivering school assemblies to help learners consider their options for the future.

Wendy Clarke - Programme Administrator

I am the Programme Administrator for the 5-year National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)-funded PATHWAY research study designed to see whether it might be helpful to include a psychological therapy alongside the usual cardiac rehabilitation pathway for patients experiencing distress following a cardiac event. We are working closely with several NHS Trusts (several NHS trusts: Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and East Cheshire NHS Trust) and the Universities of Manchester, Salford and Liverpool. I have a wide range of experience supporting mental health research programmes and have just completed work on the NIHR-funded CHOICE (Choosing Health Options in Chronic Care Emergencies) programme developing effective strategies to reduce unscheduled care in chronic disease.

NIHR disclaimer: This website presents independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research scheme (RP-PG-1211-20011). The views expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.